Air strike on Aleppo mosque kills dozens

Up to 300 worshippers were in the mosque during evening prayers when it was hit by what a local source says was likely to be a Russian air strike.

Dozens of people were killed by air strikes on the town of Aljinah in Aleppo’s western countryside, local sources have said.

The jets struck as the mosque was full of worshippers at evening prayer, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syrian war via a network of contacts across the country.

The Observatory put the death toll at 42, but other sources have quoted figures above 50.

The Syrian Civil Defense, volunteer paramedics known as the White Helmets, said first responders are racing to the scene.”Civilian defence teams are working to reach those trapped under the mosque’s ruins,” Yahya Jawad, a rescue worker in the town, told Turkey’s Anadolu Agency.

“There were 200 to 300 people in the mosque,” he added.

Aljinah is 30 kilometres west of Aleppo where nearby villages and town are witnessing frequent clashes between opposition and regime forces.

The town’s population has been swollen by refugees, UN agencies have said.

Jawad said he believed the air strikes were carried out by Russian fighter jets.

The Syrian regime and Russian military have carried out many air strikes in the Idlib and Aleppo provinces during the war.

The United States has also carried out strikes there in recent months, targeting the former Nusra Front, which until last year was affiliated with Al Qaeda.